A Trip To The Heartland

By Chuks OLUIGBO

My last visit to Owerri, the capital of Imo State, the Eastern Heartland, was in December 2011. So, when recently I had cause to make a trip to that ‘city of enjoyment’, I decided to, as in the saying, keep my ears (as well as my eyes) to the ground. My journey was by road, so I had ample time to take a good look around.

The Imo Transport Company (ITC) bus that I boarded from Lagos crossed the Niger Bridge into Onitsha at about 4pm. After a little delay in traffic, we hit the Onitsha-Owerri road. My first observation was that the dualisation of the Onitsha-Owerri road, which contract was awarded by the Federal Government during the Obasanjo presidency, has been completed. With that, traffic flow on that road has become very smooth. Barring police checkpoints, a drive from Onitsha to Owerri now takes 50 minutes on the average.

We drove into Owerri at about 5:20pm. From a distance, the Maria Assumpta Cathedral, that architectural masterpiece that has become a landmark as well as an object of art, still glows in its splendour and magnificence, only that it has reassumed its original blue and white colour, a departure from the green and white it changed to at the peak of ex-Governor Ikedi Ohakim’s Clean and Green Initiative when all fences in Owerri turned green and white overnight.

Driving around the next day, I realised the city has lost nothing of its bubbly nature. From Wetheral to Douglas to Tetlow to Assumpta Avenue to Okigwe Road and all the adjoining streets, one thing was clear: Owerri is still its old self, a beehive.

But how does one begin to describe the transformation that has taken place in the city in so short a time? Owerri is literally undergoing an overhaul.

At the Orlu Road (Warehouse) Junction, there’s now a big roundabout where traffic police stand used to be. Facing Orlu Road is the newly opened Sam Mbakwe Road; it is bordered on one side by the Bongo Square (under construction close to the remodelled Imo Hotels) and on the other by the Imo Freedom Park (under construction) stretching to almost as far as the edge of the Nworie River. The two ends of the junction on the Orlu Road approach are also being expanded to ease traffic flow. However, with the opening of the Sam Mbakwe Road, the junction is now a crossroads instead of its former T-junction. As such, traffic situation there has worsened as traffic flows from three directions into one of the roads at each point in time.

Further down the road, the Ama JK Recreation Park at Douglas by Bank Road and facing new Garden Park has been demolished. On its ashes a new structure tagged Heartland Centre is sprouting. The Centre, which comprises a downtown parking lot, international shopping mall outlets, the gym centre, cinema, bowling, auditorium, conference hall, fast food outlets, service apartment, restaurants/coffee shops, etc, is being built on behalf of the Imo State Government by Genreralia Consortium NIFPS Icono (Spain) and Hormipresa Nigeria Ltd.

On Wetheral as well as Douglas Road, all the high fences have been pulled down and are being replaced by dwarf rocky-style fences. Equally, virtually every street entrance in the city now has a gate.

The entire Concorde Boulevard has been ‘pimped’. A big gate leads into the area from Port Harcourt Road. The Cenotaph within has been rebuilt and renamed Heroes’ Square. Opposite the Square is the Ikemba Ojukwu Centre, adjacent which is the Children Recreation Park. The long abandoned Commissioners’ Quarters has been renovated and renamed Commissioners’ Court; same for the Legislative Quarters, which is now an annex of the Imo Concorde Hotel, called Concorde Apartments.

Furthermore, the premises of Imo Newspapers Limited on Egbu Road, which used to house The Statesman Newspaper and the Imo Job Centre and Finishing School, has been redesigned to also play host to Imo College of Advanced Professional Studies (ICAPS).

But where the greatest transformation has occurred is at the Okigwe Road/Wetheral Road roundabout and the entire Government House axis. There, Modotel, formerly a property of Second Republic vice president, Alex Ekwueme, which recently moved into the hands of the Young Shall Grow group, has been remodelled into the group’s Rockview brand.

The roundabout itself is undergoing reconstruction and re-beautification. The wall of the roundabout now bears the names of the 27 local government councils in the state. On a semi-circular wall in front of the Imo Investment House facing the roundabout is the inscription “POLITICIANS THINK OF THE NEXT ELECTION WHILE LEADERS THINK OF THE NEXT GENERATION”, a quote attributed to the state governor, Rochas Okorocha.

The old Government House gates have been closed and a new one opened. The entrance itself, beginning from the roundabout, has been widened. The walls of the Imo State Library has been pushed further inside, closer to the library building, while the entire space between the library and the Government House Road, which used to be a garden of some sort, is now a thoroughfare.

Many new structures have sprung up inside the Government House premises. For instance, the newly built Twin House hosts the Offices of the First Lady and the Deputy Governor. Also, on the space that used to house the Forestry Department of the state Ministry of Agriculture, the state treasury, and others, a dome-like structure is emerging. My enquiries revealed the new building is a non-denominational worship centre.

And there are many more.

Time did not permit a visit to the Sam Mbakwe Airport, whose terminal is one of the 11 being remodelled by the Federal Ministry of Aviation. From hearsay knowledge, however, work is going on in earnest, and it is believed that its completion would boost travel and tour in the state.

In short, Imo is working.